Baggage & Boarding

8- the women in the mansion

Zarah always looked so beautiful, even with those horrible dots all over her face. Despite her odd coloring, she made for a very stunning Russian woman. 

Or she would, if she ever bothered to finish the paperwork to make her citizenship final. Sofia loved her granddaughter but could not understand why she had Turkish, American, and Egyptian passports but no Russian one! She was just as Russian as she was Turkish after all! And even more Russian than American! 

Sofia sighed and rang the bell for the help. She was going to need more tea to get through this. She's actually rather have vodka, but she had given that up when she married her  Egyptian/Muslim husband so many years ago. He had passed on, but the lifestyle had not yet. 

"Come, my Dorogaya," she beckoned with her ring-laden hand. "Let your babushka get a good look at you. Ya zabyla, kak ty vyglyadish', potomu chto tebya tak dolgo ne bylo."

Zarah stepped forward in her short heels, her straightened auburn hair swinging gracefully in its sleek, long ponytail. "Don't be dramatic, babushka. I saw you for your birthday a few months ago."

"Oh! And yet it has been so long that you have forgotten your Russian!" Sofia's wrinkled hands came up to pat her granddaughter's lovely face.

"Ne zabyt, prosto rzhavyy,"  Zarah sheepishly sat down, reaching for a cup of tea that a maid had just brought in.

"With that rough accent, you might as well have forgotten it! You're barely understandable!" 

"I love you too, babushka."  She then proceeded to sip from her cup, avoiding eye contact. "So um...did Anne and Aunt Nazli arrive yet?"

"Oh yes Dorogaya, they're in their apartments upsta —"

"We're here!" Emel, Sofia's daughter-in-law, and Zarah's mother interrupted rudely. She walked in with her arms open, along with her twin sister, Nazli.

"Anne! Teyze Nazli!" Zarah got up so fast that several drops spilled from her cup as she practically flung it aside. She rushed into her mother's embrace.

"O Bozhe," Sofia sighed, setting down her own cup of tea, hand on her heart. That tea cup was a family heirloom! It barely survived the Bolshevik Revolution just to die at the hands of her granddaughter, it seemed!

The three of them stood there for a while in the hallway, not acknowledging the people dressed in crisp black-and-white uniforms bustling to and fro, preparing for dinner. The women whispered to each other eagerly, as if they had not seen each other for years, even though Sofia knew it couldn't have been more than a few weeks at most.

"Babushka," Zarah started in that sweet tone of hers that let Sofia know she would not like what came next, "would you excuse us for just half an hour? We have some planning to do for the event next week. We'll be back before dinner, I promise. "

Sofia took a deep breath. It seemed that she'd never cease to be alone in her mansion, even with her relatives present. If she had known that they'd always be hiding out in their apartments, she wouldn't have campaigned her late husband to extend the north wing!

She knew that whatever they were planning was certainly not for the event next week. Why would they need to whisper so about a charity event? They always got like this when they were together, the three of them, plotting and planning. What it was they were up to however, Sofia just couldn't figure out.

Knowing that there was no use in telling them to stay,  she excused them.

"But if you aren't down by seven, then we won't wait for you!" she threatened.

"Spasibo, Babuska!"  Zarah sang, throwing her a kiss.

Sofia narrowed her eyes. That girl was definitely up to something. 

--

"Dorogaya" = "Darling" in Russian

"YA zabyla, kak ty vyglyadish', potomu chto tebya tak dolgo ne bylo." = Roughly means "I've forgotten what you look like because you've been away for so long" in Russian

"Ne zabyt, prosto rzhavyy" = "Not forgotten, just rusty" in Russian

"Teyze" = "Maternal Aunt" in Turkish

"O Bozhe" = "Oh Lord" in Russian

"Spasibo" = "Thank you" in Russian